God of War creator David Jaffe had some harsh words for Head of Xbox Phil Spencer this past week. Earlier this week, Starfield and Redfall, two of Xbox’s biggest games of 2022, were delayed to 2023. Many expressed immense disappointment in this move, though they were also understanding of the choice and knew it would likely lead to better games. Phil Spencer took to Twitter to also support Bethesda’s decision to delay the games, but heard the feedback from fans and affirmed that the disappointment wasn’t falling on deaf ears. With that said, some think the delays highlight a larger issue with Xbox as this has left the platform holder with a major hole in their release schedule for the time being.
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One such critic is God of War creator David Jaffe, although he doesn’t work on the series anymore, he’s still rooted in the gaming industry. In response to the delays and other problems with other Xbox games like Halo Infinite, Jaffe took to his YouTube channel where he stated that he think Phil Spencer “sucks” and isn’t fit for a role where he must manage all these studios. Jaffe stated Spencer can’t produce games, but respects many of his ideas for the platform of Xbox, even going as far to call him a “visionary”. Jaffee thinks Spencer “gets in his own way” when it comes to managing games and should hire someone else to oversee the games themselves, leaving Spencer to focus on developing Xbox as a platform.ย
“You’re this fu–ing close, Phil Spencer,” said Jaffe as part of a larger rant. “You plan is sound, your infrastructure when it comes to these studios is sound, it’s great [but] you can’t manage. You just can’t do it!”
Phil Spencer has helped reform Xbox over the last decade after the launch of the Xbox One nearly torpedoed the brand. Spencer has been a major driving force behind ideas like Xbox Game Pass, but on a critical level, the first-party releases have largely failed to stack up to the likes of PlayStation. Whether or not these new studio acquisitions can help turn some things around on that front remains to be seen, but it’s definitely hard to imagine where Xbox would be had Phil Spencer not been tasked with leading the charge during the Xbox One era.
What do you think of David Jaffe’s comments and Phil Spencer’s leadership of Xbox? Let me know in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
